Levi shoved back from his desk, eyeing the phone in his hand with slow-rising satisfaction. Elise Porter.
He hadn’t even left her apartment before the sud-soaked shower fantasies had begun a relentless assault that, almost a full day later, had yet to cease. It had been a minor miracle he’d made it out of her building at all, and even more so that he’d managed the night without returning to talk her into another bad decision and work his way into her bed.
Just one thing had stopped him.
She’d tried to walk away. At the park and again outside her building.
The chemistry was there. Unmistakably. But she’d resisted it, because she knew—they both knew—he wasn’t the kind of guy who could give a woman like her what she needed.
So once he’d gotten her home safe … he’d done the right thing and left.
Only now, she’d called. Reopened a door he’d had one hell of a time forcing himself to close. Which meant all that noble, well-intentioned, do-the-right-thing garbage that had been the source of his sleepless night and his irritatingly, unproductive morning was done.
He eased deeper into his chair, pondering how she’d approach him. Maybe she’d ask for help washing some dirty spot she hadn’t been able to reach.
He wished. Connecting the line, he answered, “Levi here.”
“Umm, hello, Levi. This is Elise. Elise Porter … from last week at the bookstore … and after … and at the park yesterday … with Bruno …”
Again he was looking at the phone. Okay, so not the smooth approach he’d been anticipating—not that he should have been surprised. And from the sounds of it, she was still going on, trying to cast about more clues for him to nail down her identity.
How many women did she think he picked up during a week? “Elise, I know who you are.”
Her breath sounded in rush. “Okay, good. Thank you.”
More thanks? She could keep them. He couldn’t quite bring himself to accept praise for knowing whose body he’d been buried in a week ago. “Sweetheart, what can I do for you?”
“I know this is going to sound crazy and it’s sort of in violation of the unspoken one-night agreement, but I need a huge favor and you’re the only person who can help me.”
Levi’s head tipped to rest against the leather back of his chair. He couldn’t wait to hear this one, especially knowing the kind of tizzy she’d worked herself up to just calling. “What kind of favor are we talking about?”
His mind was already working through a few ideas in explicit detail. And if they were on the same page … he was feeling very generous.
“I’ve become Bruno’s temporary owner, but I still can’t quite handle him.”
The dog again. Well, he couldn’t knock the tactic. It had, after all, worked before.
“You’re the only guy I know who doesn’t work in the afternoons. I’d like to hire you to walk him today.”
Hire him?
Levi sat up in his chair, his mouth twitching against his barely restrained laughter. Damn, she was good. He was no stranger to women looking for excuses to get back within jumping distance of his bed, but, to date, he’d never had one offer cash as an incentive—not that he’d actually take it, but this was too good. “You want to hire me to walk Bruno? How much are we talking?”
Her sigh filtered through the line, heavy with relief. Gratitude. A nice touch. He liked a woman who didn’t skimp on the details.
“I was thinking fifteen bucks for thirty minutes at the park.”
“No.” As a rule, games weren’t his thing. But this one was too much fun not to play—And the truth was, he could have really used this call about twelve hours ago. So maybe he wanted to make her squirm a little. “I’ve already proven I can handle Bruno. Call it an even twenty and I’ll run him, too.”
That ought to throw a wrench in her plans. No chance of a long intimate talk if he was running down that beast of a dog. Let’s see how she wiggled out of this one.
“Deal. That’s perfect.”
Sure it was. He couldn’t wait to see what she came up with next. See if Bruno was there at all. Not that he cared. She’d scored major points for style and originality—despite the sporadic awkward factor he was coming to recognize as pure Elise. So she’d fabricated an excuse to reconnect with him, big deal. Whatever it took for her to make the call, he was on board with one hundred percent, because the fact remained … He just hadn’t had enough of her yet.
CHAPTER FOUR
“YOU’RE serious?” Levi stared down at the leash, empty newspaper bag and crumpled twenty she’d stuffed in his hand and let out a laugh that was equal parts irritation and incredulous amusement. He should have seen it the second she’d swung open the apartment door, greeting him with that wide, grateful smile. No makeup, her hair stuffed in another one of those elastic things. Ratty jeans and a not too tight T-shirt. “This is actually about the dog?”
Elise blanched, her chin pulling back. “You thought it wasn’t about the dog?”
What a chump. This was not how it went with him.
He liked to be in control. Hell, he was man enough to know he needed it. And, this thing with Elise. He was most definitely not in control.
But, based on the Olympic-level hand-wringing happening in front of him, neither was she.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he shook his head. “Not to sound like an ass here, but it usually isn’t. The dog, the lost earring, the house keys—” misplaced thong “—whatever it is, it’s usually an excuse.”
Shaking her head, she gave him one of those earnest looks that made him wonder how he’d ever gotten past it. Then she swallowed, licking her lips—oh, right, that was how—as she geared up to something big.
“I swear, that wasn’t my intention. I mean, yes, I like you.”
Ah, hell, he knew where this was going … held up a staying hand, thinking his ego really wasn’t up for the speech he’d given too many times to count.
“You’re an attractive man and the other night was incredi—”
Her words cut short as Bruno barreled into the room, his huge body skidding into Elise’s knees from behind—taking her down over his back.
“Elise—” He was at her side in a second. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no,” she grumbled, trying to wave him off even as he caught her.
Fingers moving swiftly, he checked her wrists and elbows, worked his way over her arms … to her shoulders … the slender column of her neck … and the loose, silky spirals falling around it.
Gray eyes fringed with dark ash locked with his.
“I’m fine,” she answered quietly, looking away as she pushed to stand. “Getting used to it even.”
Right. Following her to his feet, Levi brushed his hands over his thighs in a weak attempt to replace the velvet-soft feel of her beneath them.
Bruno’s nails were already clicking frantically over the hardwood as he scrambled to get his lanky legs back under him following a tight turn.
“Sit, Bruno.” The dog dropped at his side, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
Elise ducked to rub a hand over his knobby head. “Good boy. He just doesn’t know his own strength yet.”
Then after a pause, she shook her head. “Look, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have called, but no one else was available. You’d handled him so